Black Cat on Fence Rail 1 and Witch's Kitty 1 - Two Works in Progress

While going through a folder of small paintings I came across a drawing that I did in a Still Life class at KAGS a long time ago of a black cat (see post on 12 December 2014).

Since it is Hallowe'en, and we are getting the usual rainy weather, although this year it is also very windy (21mph (34kph) winds and gusts up to 31-37mph (50-60kph) it seemed fitting to do some work on it.

First I cleaned up the lines on the stuffed cat wearing the witch's hat.

I wanted to see how Antwerp blue would look as a background colour for a painting of a black cat.

So, on a small piece of paper I did a quick drawing of a cat sitting on the top rail of a fence.

Next, I applied Antwerp blue into the background.

Black Cat on Rail Fence 1

Once the paint was dry, I put a cut out of black paper over the cat drawing and I was pleased with the colour contrast.















Witch's Kitty

It didn't take long for me to wash in the background behind the cat wearing the witch's hat.

I will post this painting at a later date as more work on it is completed.

Thank you for looking at my artwork.

Final Day at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio

The membership of the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio voted in July to close their doors at the present location of 29 years at 420 O'Connell Road, in Peterborough, Ontario on 30 September 2019.

They will be moving to a new location at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational Institute (PCVS), located at 201 McDonnel Street, in Peterborough, Ontario where they will no longer have an art gallery and just have a small studio space for the members.

Since I have my own art studio in my home, I have no need to drive into Peterborough to paint. That being said, if they should offer classes that interest me, I may attend.

Today the final pieces to be moved from KAGS have left the building and the Gallery here is officially closed.

I wish them the best of luck with their new location.

ACEO - Garden Shed 2

Today is the first day of the Creative Hands on Festival and Lois Shaw, Jewell Allington and I were the artists displaying our art work and representing KAGS.

It is being held on the lower level of the Peterborough Square from 13-15 September 2019 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

In between showing people how to paint pine trees in watercolour I worked on this painting that I had started a number of years ago while painting with the KAGS Outdoor Painters' Group on location (see posts on 16 May 2016, 29 May and 19 October 2017).















By the end of the day three people went home with lovely little watercolour paintings of pine trees.

If you would like more information about ACEO please go to my post on 11 March 2010.

The ACEO shown here is an original watercolour painting using Artist quality Winsor & Newton paint on 140lb. Arches 100% rag, acid free watercolour paper. It is priced at $20.00 and sold unframed.

Creative Hands on Festival

Today Lois Shaw I were setting up the KAGS display at the Creative Hands on Festival.















Over the next three days we will have three to four artists from the Gallery doing demonstrations of painting in oils or watercolour and I will also be showing people how do a painting of a pine tree in watercolour.













It is being held on the lower level of the Peterborough Square from 13-15 September 2019 from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.














If you have a chance please come out this weekend and enjoy a wide variety of arts and crafts on display and try your hand at making a wide variety of crafts.

21st Annual Lakefield Jazz, Art & Craft Festival

Today I met with three other KAGS members at the 21st Annual Lakefield Jazz, Art & Craft Festival to help with setting up the tent.















Once the tent was set up I was given the back wall to set up my part of the art display.















The Festival is being held at the Isabel Morris Park, at 20 Concession St., in Lakefield, Ontario and the vendors will be there from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. and the music will continue through until 10 p.m.















There were a large number of people attending the Festival even though the temperature was 86F (30C) with the humidity making it feel like 97F (37C) and they were calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon.















If you have a chance, please come out and enjoy the Festival.

Two Guys and a Girl Show Opening

Today is the opening of the Two Guys and a Girl Exhibit at the Kawartha Artists Gallery and Studio, located at 420 O'Connell Road, Peterborough, Ontario.

I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who came out to see the show, considering the temperature was 88F (31C) and the humidity made it feel like 91F (33C).

I am not sure that I would have gone to a show on a day as hot as this when it continues for another two weeks.

It was interesting to see the visitors interacting with the artists and discussing the artwork among them.















About halfway through the afternoon Ron came out to see the show. This is the first time he has ever come out to see one of my gallery opening receptions.















He spent the better part of an hour speaking with Daniel Marlatt and Emil Varga about their art, before he left to return home to do chores.















I spoke with many people about my art and a number of them were especially interested in my pen and ink drawings and my poured acrylic abstract paintings.















Shortly before closing Christine arrived to see the show. She has always been very supportive of my art and chose her three favourite pieces in this show.















We ended up staying open past our closing time to accommodate the pubic. On the whole it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.















I would like to thank returning collector Ms. Christine Martin of Peterborough, Ontario on her purchase of Creation VI (see post on 10 October 2018).

Hanging Two Guys and a Girl Exhibit

Since the Gallery is closed on Monday and Tuesday other than for workshops and studios we decided to set up our displays this morning and do any of the finishing tomorrow if needed.














Emil Varga was there with me in the morning and we spoke with Daniel on the telephone to decide how we would set up the Gallery space.
















Daniel wanted to set up his grids in the centre of the Gallery space and Emil preferred to have the long wall and I wanted my space in the "cubby hole" at the front end of the Gallery.

The remaining space would be divided between Daniel and I, with him taking the short back wall and half of the wall opposite Emil's artwork.

After bringing in my paintings, table and display racks, I went got two sets of panels to cover the pipes in the cubby hole and the and another set of panels to cover the heat ducts in the other corner.

I started with the short wall by the stairs and hung the large painting of the Belgian, followed by two pen and ink drawings of draft horses on either side of the watercolour painting.

On the opposite short wall I hung the two display panels and filled them with miniature abstract paintings.

Between the two panels I hung two mid-sized abstracts.

In the centre of the last wall I placed an acrylic landscape and flanked it wit smaller acrylic landscapes.

To the left side I hung a watercolour painting of a horse.

To the right side I put a conte portrait and a landscape watercolour.















Next, I brought over two of the plinths and placed each of them beneath the centre paintings on the short walls.















On the one plinth I put one of my leather carvings on an easel and on the other I put my rack with shrink wrapped artwork and the small bios and show lists.















I set up my table in below the large acrylic landscape and I placed an acrylic painting on an easel at the back of the table and put out the two books of ACEO to the front.












From there I went to the opposite end of the Gallery and in the smaller section of the long wall I hung five of my larger abstract paintings, which completed that space.















Now it was time to hang some of the remaining paintings onto the grids. I started with the set at the back of the Gallery.















I started with the panel facing the far side long wall and since I didn't want the paintings too close to the floor I put the three rubber ducky paintings on that panel.














On the other side of the grid I put the two small sailboat paintings side by side at the top, followed by two early morning landscapes with pinks and blues in the skies.














Going to the other set of grids I started by putting two floral paintings and still life on the panel facing the other grids at the opposite end of the Gallery.














On the final panel I hung three winter landscape paintings.

My last painting was hung by the desk on the wall on the opposite side of the stairs going down into the studio.

My next step was to put all the labels on the wall or on the grids by the paintings.

Lastly, I cleaned the glass on any of the paintings that I may have gotten marks on while taking them in or out of their boxes.

Once I was happy with the way everything looked it was time to remove all the boxes, cartons and containers out to the car.

Well, Hello There

Today I am at KAGS for the still life class which features toys and stuffed animals.

I decided to do the lamb with its front legs hanging down below the riser at the back of the display, making it seem as though it wanted to meet the knitted toy elephant.

I put a few wooden blocks into the drawing near the elephant.

I may go back into the drawing and put the corner on the cloth covered riser.

Thank you for coming to look at my artwork and I hope you will return often.

Stainless Steel Trio - A Work in Progress

This is another of the sketches I did in the Still Life class yesterday at KAGS.

I picked three of the pieces, in this case the percolator, the tea pot and the metal cup.















The drawing still needs more work and I will post it at a later date once it is completed.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and enjoy the artwork.

Group of Seven 1 - A Work in Progress

Today I am at the Kawartha Artists' Gallery and Studio all day. In the morning I was in the Still Life class where the theme was Coffee or Tea?

There were two different displays. The first display featured a tea cup and saucer, a coffee mug, a creamer, small clay teapot, a stainless steel milk warmer, silver spoons and napkins.

The second display was mostly made up of various stainless steel mugs, cups, a tea pot, a coffee percolator and there was a china tea cup and a couple of clay mugs.














I started at the right side of the display and gradually worked my way drawing the various pieces as I progressed to the left side of the arrangement.

I left out some of the cups and mugs where only a small piece of them could be seen and would detract from the drawing by making it look very busy.

More work needs to be done to the drawing, before I am happy with it and I will post this piece at a later date once the drawing has been completed.

Awakening Exhibit at KAGS

Today is the first day of the Awakening show at KAGS.

We had 63 paintings which is the first time in quite a while that we have had as many entries as this for a show.

I brought in four smaller pieces which would fit in pretty much anywhere.

The show's opening reception will be held on Sunday, 03 March from 1-4 p.m.

The exhibit will continue through to 24 March 2019.














I hope that you will be able come out and view the art; it is well worth the trip to see the variety and quality of the exhibit.

Murex Shell 1 - A Work in Progress

It is another cold day with the temperature at 9F (-13C) with the wind chill making it feel like -9F (-23C) and more snow falling to make things more difficult. The drive into KAGS wasn't as bad as expected, but then I left fairly early for the Still Life class.

The theme for the class was "At the Beach" and we had many seashells of various sizes and shapes, jewellery made of coral and shells, beach towels, sandals, sun glasses and many other things you would take with you to the beach.















Since many of the larger shells were mine, I chose to start on a small Murex shell that another member brought in for the display.

After the break I didn't have much time to work on my drawing as I was busy getting the themes for the remaining Still Life classes put together and ready for the printer.

I will post this piece at a later date once more work on it has been completed.

Monochrome and Black and White Show

Today is the first day of the Monochrome and Black and White exhibit at KAGS.

Some monochromes were drawings using only burnt sienna, burnt umber, or Payne's grey.

Mine was using only French ultramarine blue with the darkest being the colour straight from the tube with no water added to a very pale mix with just a tiny amount of colour added to water to just tint the paper.

There were a number of monochrome paintings in the show where the base colour of burnt umber, red oxide, viridian, cobalt blue or turquoise was changed with the addition of black and white paint.












Two paintings that I found interesting were poured acrylic abstracts, the first was of black and white only and the second one was of black, white and cobalt blue.

For the black and white only, there were a number of pen and ink drawings; some were very detailed and others that were quick sketches.










There were a couple of lino prints that were quite interesting and showed another way to use black and white.

The majority of the black and white pieces were created using graphite pencil. Some of which were so realistic that they could almost pass as photographs.















Needless to say there were also a number of black and white photographs in the show featuring a wide range of subject matter.

On the whole it is a wonderful exhibit and beautifully presented.













The show runs from today through to 24 February with the opening reception being held on Sunday, 27 January from 1-4 p.m.

If you have the chance, please come out and see this exhibit.

Brass Lamp 1

This is another drawing of the lamps I did in the Still Life class at KAGS yesterday.

This one is has a simple brass base which can hold various sized candles.

The chimney fits tightly into the base and has a double indent in the glass which I found interesting instead of having the single globe.

The candle on the inside was pink, but if I decide to do this as a painting I think I will make it a different colour either, white or red.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and look at the artwork.

Silver I

This is the third drawing that I did in the Still Life class at KAGS earlier this week (see posts on 08 and 11 November 2018) this one features items make of silver.

I selected a silver warming dish, a glass container with a silver lid and an ornament of a silver rose with a "ruby" in the centre of the flower.

Again it was a difficult choice to make as there also was a coffee pot with a cream warmer on the top, a vanity tray with filigreed silver around its mirrored base, a cream and sugar set of royal blue glass set within a silver rim and base resting on a matching silver tray and lastly a silver plant holder.

I started on the left side with the large covered, four-legged warming dish which had ornate scrolling on the handle of the lid and at the top of each of the four legs.















To the right of this I put in the bevelled glass jar. The glass created a kaleidoscope of complex patterns from the colours behind it as they showed through the glass.

I then placed the ornate silver rose ornament with the red glass faceted stone set into the centre of the rose. The stem started the base of one foot of the warming dish, went behind the glass jar and the flower protruded out to the right beyond the jar.

Lastly, I put the folds in the cloth beneath the silver pieces.

Perhaps in the future I may do another piece featuring one of each of the three metals.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and look at the artwork. I hope you will return often.

Brass I

This is another drawing that I did in the KAGS Still Life class (see post on 08 November 2018) this one features items make of brass.

It was very hard to make a selection and for this one I chose a creamer, a large bowl and a platter. There was also a bell, an ornament of a pear, a bud vase and a small bowl but, I thought would be overkill if I included everything.

I started on the left side of the paper and the first thing I put in was the large brass platter resting upright on a plate holder.















Next I put the creamer in front of the platter overlapping it on the right side.

On the right side I put in the large bowl and added the folds of the material which was behind and below all of the items on the table.

I will post the third drawing tomorrow after I have more work on it completed.

Construction Safety Helmet

Today I wanted to finish the third outline sketch from the Still Life class at KAGS from last week (see posts on 02 and 05 November 2018).

I thought it was suitable that the construction safety helmet was supported by a brick in this display of hats.

I also liked the fact that the brick was not one of the run of the mill flat red bricks, but had core holes called keys and on the long sides of narrow edge had a number of indents.

This brick was made for strength, quality, weight reduction and cost reduction.

I may go in at a later date and do more work on the brick and add shadows and highlights onto the helmet.